Judge, 1882-09-02 · page 2 of 16
Judge — September 2, 1882 — page 2: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of "Arousing Police Justices" This satirical piece mocks New York City police justices who, the text explains, were appointed by the Mayor to sit in police courts at night to handle bail in non-capital cases. An assemblyman named McClelland pushed legislation requiring them to actually do this job—work they had long avoided. The satire ridicules the justices by imagining their nightmares upon learning the law passed. Each justice is named (Butler Bixby, Marcus Otterbourne, James Kilbreth, Rufus Cowing, Solon Smith, Andrew White, and others), and the piece envisions them dreaming of the inconvenience and embarrassment of having to actually perform their assigned duties. The cartoon (visible header with magistrate-like figure) and accompanying article together lampoon these officials as lazy, entitled appointees who expected their positions as sinecures. The humor derives from depicting their horror at genuine accountability—suggesting New York's police justice system was staffed by do-nothing political appointees.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
SS te THE JUDGE. ke when aw m in the night tim Arousing Police Justices. in en elves the rage of a polic i from a pleasant drea mblyman from this city who | in the police central office. and one who has | Justice Butler H. Bixby might be de i to submit at times to the frowns | ing that Mayor Grace had eppointed him f — last winter in | another term this fall, and that the Board of n amendment | -Mdermen had contirmed him, He would lure adopted | Tealize upon awakening that brothe Wies an As: is a poli e court lawye been fore and snubs of police justic Albany succeeded. in hari to the Code of Crimi THE JUDGE PUBLISHING CO,, | reairing the Mayor io designate a police jus- 34 and 36 North Moore Street, Ne Ve tion whi shall sie im. ue: poten ermveal ale | (OF pire as cyijqe | inthe night time, in order to take bail in al | Justice Marcus Otterbour PUBLISILED ONCE A WEEK.) coccg excepting capital crimes, he had the | ing a dream similar to that which wou | Francis M. Bixby, is no longer a might be enjoy TERMS TO SUBSCRIBERS. proud satisfaction of knowing that he was | make Justice Bixby smile in his sleep, but he (se Copp, 000 sear, ori Wombats aes sae | about to make the eleven police justices of | Would find upon awakening that the other One Copy, 1X months, oF 36 numbers =< | this city tear their hair sh their | members of the Board of Police Justices wer Ree Cone REY TS eee ‘4 Veeth. “Assemblyman MeClelland was not | still imploring Mayor Grace not to name him Address | unaware, hpvever, that if the law was | for a second term, Tne denue PrstisMiya Co, 34 ans 34 North Noo properly carried out, much inconvenience and | Justice James T. Kilbreth would naturally Tove suffering would be spared many innocent | be enraged upon being shaken out of his sleep. must put thei valeation upon the articles they | persons, or those who by astay of one ni ‘The awfal fact would again confront him th; us (subject toa price we may ourselves AX} oF ote | in a police station cell would he excessively | it the camp of the County Democraey at ke Unie ' fier rats po punished for their offe The absurdity | four hundred and ninety-nine men are gain their declined articles of locking station house over night upon the most flimsy complaint of and the inability of the pri ail for his fe, with anne ant addr shoes, ing for his ofc Bankson ‘T. Morgan, haunted t spectacle of Judge Rufus 1, Cowing sitting on the bench of the General Se: hat start from his sleep at the first shock, and announce that th man in man or w Justice The Rising Tide a sing | oner to secure the acceptance of » person, ons, we appearance at court on the following: morn- was so transparent to Assemblyman nd that he lost no time in urg’ sing the of his amendment to the Code, When the tide comes in. court must be adjourned Ovr Congressmen have often sang th: beautiful ballad, undoubtedly, but probably there never was atime when the words quoted owing to his sudden illness. Justice Solon 1B. Smith, dreaming | friendly chat with his old friend and a * Chet,” now President of the United Wiser tes would naturally feel unkind upon awakening 1 of the fact that President or Chet.” The police justices were staggered when they learned that this amendment bad ally become a law. They said that they had - al stands as | 74 ; ae : to a realizati not opposed it because they never for a mo- Aer tne ment believed that it would be adopted. ‘They | Afar }s no Ton, 2 . “| Justice Andrew J. White, dreaming of a ridiculed it, saying that it would be of no u es quiet game of old sledge with Fire Comm benefit to anybody. Mayor ¢ " J to fix the time, and designate the po- | ner Purroy, would wonder why he w lice justices who should sit at the police eae tral oflice in the night time, in order to take | 7! ndnow comes | 1,41, and from the manner in which the police | Justice Hugh ( above pos so much sensational meaning 1 1s they do at the present time, River and Harbor st sinst the other work of the entire It would, indeed, seem that our pi nt express purpose of working that particular robbery, since nothing else of any importance » was com just _as he was ordering “another appears to have been done, or, at all evel rdner would never forg nothing for the public the day of reckoning. : the man who would awaken him as he was BS justices conduct themselves, or from the way |" \ 7 The tide is rising in those rivers and har- * | singing thro’ the Rye,” on hisnative | F in which they absent them from the | ” | bors —the tide of public indignation—and ‘ ri heath, | marble palace in Mulberry street, it is very | . ; j the robbers stand on those muddy shores, from | ae * | Justice J. Harry Ford, dreaming of ta : eae Ito be returned for fa. | CY#lent that they are determined to show the | |) i eiailee Hetdea whence they expected to be returned for fu- : ‘ slates, ailors, race tracks, and “ Ole FOE people, not only that they are dissatisticd with | Plates, Morey, racer racker, a0 a uw they behold with dismay the Smoke,” could not be cheerful when rapped ou et with a ration of rs club, Justice Maurice J. Power, while framing in his dreams a reply to District Attorney John MeKeon’s assertion that ‘certain Democratic | police magistrates” urged him not to raid | the policy-dealers, wonld certainly fix ex. te weeks, and thus are expected to | OTbitant bail in any ease brought before him ‘ill, which over. | £i¥¢ their valuable time to the city only for | in Be salt Fane be aire Like a | HeMtysix out of the fifty-two weeks in the | 5 JUN’ one 2 ane : 2) year. Few of them find it necessary to be in | Mit3 an pretty maidens at the booths, would 1 sad and lonely when urged to admit Michael Moloney, a good citizen,” to bail upon a charge of attempt at burglary, Justice Jacob M. Patterson, Jr.; dreaming that Governor Cornell had really been re: elected, would find upon awakening that th: nominating convention had not yet been held and that puld is putting “that lizard o: the hill" ina decidedly unpleasant attitucs before the people. Jake” would at onee ze his cleaver and create a stir in th complain that the | central office in the night time about threo | Police central offiee. ' a month, he concludes that he is over And yet the little fellows make exec ned with work, and is consequently ina | Goop-nye, Summer. You have been a pies. Bait th “I state of mind. | friend to no one in these parts but country use fine shot 1 Tt is not diMentt. t : a ee the task of presenting themselves at that rising of the waters, which are certain to | J i.6e, but that the amendment to the Code is | the f farcical, Police justices in this appointed by the Mayor, and contirmed by the Board of Aldermen, ‘Their overwhelm them, and leave their politic creat metro- and there, as warnings hones to whiten he politan city are ‘ome after them a to those who may 5 public servants, Hardly ev +o much indig term of oftice is fort $8,000 a year, pars, in our national history has sit on the ben nation been manifested over the on altert ofa bill as has lately been shown for passag, this River and Harbor reaching and unscrupulous men carri es over Presi lent Arthur's veto. | ~ ‘stad fe br pack of th It court more than four hours during the day nd, until Assemblyman McClelland’ « ment to the Code was adopted, none of them ever thought of attending to public duties i night time. No office-holders in the city straw of stealing tha ke the nd ni that the th es return r constituents, it is no wonder that $ they behold this rising tide. th gentlemen, ‘When the flowing tide | | had so much spare time as the police justices. ‘They frolicked at the sea-side, at the popular springs, or in the mountains during the sum- | mer, and were resplendent at ball ties in the winter. Now, altho comes in.” it will either drown you for all time, or leave you high and dry where you ) never hope to help work the Ship of State | again, nd pare it ism ely necessary fora poli justice to visit the police Prope in the cit English sparrows have becon Panu ance. | tim ent pot: | bur 1 convenient place and | fren to picture to our- | landle ee comicbooks.com